Why reading culture is necessary among youths –Ifowodo

Award-winning writer and lawyer, Dr. Ogaga Ifowodo, took time off his usually tight schedule last Friday to address the staff and pupils of Chemline Academy on why a reading culture must thrive among the youth in Nigeria, during the maiden Annual Speech and Prize-giving Day event of the institution.

Ifowodo’s speech was entitled ‘When last did you read a book?’ before an audience that also included parents and guardians of the pupils, as well as other invited guests.

Ifowodo blamed the prevalence of poor spoken and written English, even among university graduates, on the absence of a compulsive reading habit in the society.

The poet who, until last May was teaching at the Texas State University in San Marcos, USA, noted that the same factor was responsible for the appalling analytical and applied knowledge skills of fresh graduates and job seekers.

Describing this situation as worrisome, Ifowodo told the gathering how his passion for writing was nurtured right from secondary school.

He recalled, “I became a writer in my fourth year at the Federal Government College, Warri. One evening, the sixth former who was the head of our table in the dining hall – Uyi Woghiren – turned to me and said, ‘Why don’t you write a poem for Independence House in the poetry competition of Festival of Arts and Culture?’

“He told me to think about it. And I thought about it. The more I thought, the more I liked the idea of aspiring to write something that could be called a poem. And so it came to pass that I wrote some lines and stanzas entitled ‘Ill Wind’.

“Quite to my surprise and delight, it was the joint first prize winner for Independence House in the poetry event, clinching the prize with an entry by a female sixth former, also from Independence House.”

Asking members of the audience, including the graduating pupils of the Academy, when they last read a book, Ifowodo continued, “Of all the extra-curricular activities that a school might encourage, that one could take up, reading tops my list. You must have books in front of you every day of the week. But I do not mean textbooks or instructional or devotional books. I mean the sort of books that constitute leisure reading.

“Primarily, I mean great literature as in novels, poetry, autobiographies, essays and other creative non-fiction works by great writers, such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo, and NgugiwaThiong’o.